The children all continue to take dance a couple times a week.

Natalie also continues to teach ballet to the 3-5 year olds.  In February we mourned the loss of their beloved ballet teacher and my childhood friend.  We had a councillor come in to the very first dance class. It's absolutely heart breaking to watch your children ache.  We attended the funeral as a family, and Natalie danced at the funeral dancing to the song "heal". I am so proud of her. She cried her way though but her strength and love for Miss Anna shone brightly though. 

Austin has also arrived back home from India. Many evenings are spent listening to his stories and how the Lord has moved his heart. I praise God for his hand in my children's lives. He takes us through deep waters but His grace is there. 

We also have added to our family. This past January an email came through from our local pregnancy care centre sent to all the churches in Kamloops. A 15 year old expectant mom was looking to re-locate off Vancouver Island to have a fresh start. She was looking for a family that could mentor her as a mother herself but have the safety and support of a family. I ignored the email for 2 weeks. I even deleted it after reading it. Two weeks later the Lord woke me up in the night thinking about this young lady. I emailed the pregnancy care centre to find out if a home had been found. I was shocked to hear no body had responded.  To make a long amazing story short we have moved her into our home. My husband has took this on to provide for her and her child. I felt so strongly that I can't speak about my pro-life beliefs unless I live them out when God puts it in front of our face. Ziera has since shared that if she hadn't found a home she was left to abort her child. I praise God for saving this precious baby.  Ziera has fully embraced us as mom and dad and is so open to our faith. She is not yet a believer but we pray the Lord would continue to soften her heart.  My prayer is that my children will see the Gospel being lived in our home and that actions will teach more than any story or curriculum. 

 I want these children to see no matter our past or present we all need someone in our corner … to have our back … to believe in us when we don’t believe in ourselves.  We can do that for the people who are learning how to treat others by watching us live.I want them to learn to build up, not tear down …I want be a role model, not a bad example … so I can leave a legacy, not a scar. These are my hopes for anyone who spends time in our home. 

We continue to travel to Vancouver monthly for Mr. Henry, he is doing quite well at the moment and we are enjoying the calm. 

Our days at home are spent with our regular routine, of homeschooling and chores. On Sunday evening's we are still hosting an evening bible study in our home. The children love sharing meals and having that play time. 

Hannah has completed Abeka Numbers Skills 5.

She is very eager to get her school work done every day which makes teaching her a joy.  Hannah has also completed Abeka Think and Learn K5. This book is excellent for  writing skills, eye-hand coordination, listening and thinking skills, good character, and visual perception. At this point I am unsure if I will order grade 1 or focus on other area's for Spring. 

Hannah also continues to work through 100 Eazy Lessons, she is doing well sounding out words. 

   

   Igloo building. We've been reading about the people who live around Canada's largest river delta. This story is about a boy with mixed cultural heritage - Gwich'in and Inuvialuit.

Hannah  and I read about the first Nations people complete with crafts. 

Jude reviewing Canada's colours and writing about how to respect the Canadian flag.

Afternoon crafting to inspire Spring to come. Tie-dye butterflies.

After lunch when things quiet down I have been reading  Wisdom with the Millers with my younger children. Focusing on the Proverbs and life experiences that talk about many topic's. 

Jude's Language Art's

He is reading well now, and doing fantastic with spelling. 

 We continue to work through CLE Bible 2. I read the stories out loud while he colours the picture or does the worksheet. 

Jude has completed Saxon Math 2 and I am a little unsure if I want to move to Saxon 3 or try a different curriculum.  He did well grasping all the concepts and continues to memories multiplication fact with flash cards. 

On Monday's in-between dance classes we have been spending our time down at the river. No agenda, just fresh air and creative play. This has been very important to me as the world pushes it's media agenda on my children. We don't have cable, but with Netflix and the school project's online I worry about the time in front of a screen. Giving them different places in nature to explore and breath deep and been refreshing to us. 

This December Zachary built the family an outdoor skating rink. Hours and hours have been spent outside skating. Everyone's skills has greatly improved.  It's been absolutely wonderful to have an activity that all the children can do together.  I continue to trust the Lord in our peaceful relaxed way of education. Training these children he has given me to walk in rightiousness. Beauty and personal growth is blooming all around us, as I humbly go through my days as a mother.  I pray he will sustain me and my health, that he would continue to bless us even when the storms of life come.  As I type this I hear worship music in the kitchen and the children singing and laughing together. I praise Him for the work He has done in-spite of my weakness.  

                            

Learning 3-D shapes. We cut out and taped our own then we when on a hunt through out the house identifying as many a we could.

       What have the Brown's been up to.  We started a unit study based out of Swiss Family Robinson so we have been reading the unabridged original version. We have found this version still has all the good Christian content and beautiful vocabulary. 

We start our day as we always have with prayer and scripture reading. We started a prayer journal and also added more praise and giving God glory for His answers to prayer just like in the book.  We've add a large world map to our dinning room table praying for different missionary's and nations including big brother Austin on his way to India. We are receiving Voice of the Martyrs material with a constant family discussion of believers around the world.

 The children are continuing to memorize the Catechisms and memory verses. I will be providing a video for you to see.  Our family is hosting a bible study Sunday evening including a meal. The children are participating in hospitality with the children that are over, sharing, clean-up etc.. This has been such a wonderful time to have our children fellowship cross generationally and build relationships. 

Jude identifying basic shapes and introducing 3-D forms. A little 3-D ladybug🐞. (Art)

Physical fitness, the children continue to take ballet and hip hop including, stretching, strength training with floor exercises. Hannah and Jude are currently working on their Christmas performance that will take place in December. 

A little leaf art. 

 The children get 3o minutes of exercise with the following activities.. running, chopping and carrying in wood, outdoor games of soccer, tag etc.. 

Our mornings our time is filled with the basics. Hannah and Jude work on phonics with 100 easy lessons. We are using various readers to encourage more fluent reading.   Math,  Hannah is working through Abeka K5 and Jude is almost done Saxon Grade 2 pictures of lessons coming. 

We've been learning new vocabulary words from the book. Although this is a little over Hannah's head I think the repetition will be useful.

Hannah's literature pocket. "the Little Red Hen"

Our afternoons we are focusing on limiting recreational reading to the bible, Saving time for real life and not overindulging in leisure activities.  We've been encouraging and assigning useful work and creative projects giving them a sense of accomplishment and value.  Changing our focus  away from entitlement and more of privilege. This fall we provided work gloves for time to be spent outdoors with dad chopping and stacking wood. Building slash piles to burn etc..And rewarding with unstructured imaginative play with sticks and rocks and tools to build forts. This has drastically improved the attitude of our home. We have made a choice this year to take a break from support group field trips, I am finding as our family grows, so has our understanding of Titus 2:4 "so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, " and to focus on being content within our own home, staying busy with the work we can do with our hands. Our vision as a family is to use skills God has given us while really focusing on character qualities.  

I really felt strongly this semester to build our family unity and focus on life skills and delicate down to my younger children while weaving the basics (Math & Reading) into our days.  Things like composting, drying food, storing, proper care of feeding the animals. Jude is now our animal feeder and water. Hannah is our dog brusher. Gun safety, know how to call for help (911), fire safety, where to meet etc.. including the younger children in more baking and cooking. Eating more of a clean basic diet and getting rid of the sugar. 

Making use of essential oils when we can rather than reaching for store bought medications. 

Discussing modesty. Behaviour and what we wear. 

Miss Hannah learning about traffic lights.

Hannah's autumn 🍂 poem.

Critter of the Week: We've been picking an animal of the week, this also rolls into our character study. We are using Character Sketches for this. 

We are trying to learn two new edible plants from our local area a week and looking up different ways they can be used. 

Because we live out of town with out cell service I had the children put together a survival kit for our van for the winter. 

:blanket

:matches

:flashlight

:water

:granola bars

We've discusses and practiced first aid for hypothermia.

Symptoms, treatment, knowing the difference between a mild case and severe case. 

Hannah is our hilariously funny girl. She is a deep thinker continually asking questions about how and why things are they way they are. She is often saying " I love school" or "I love my life". 

Jude is all boy, loves one on one school time and is eager to learn. 

saying yes...

   I am blessed with nine gorgeous children, and I will be the first to tell you there is no greater thing you can do with your life than mother your children.  My decision to go to Guatemala with my three oldest children in March had nothing do to with the fact that I think we would make a good missionary team or that "wanting" to go was on my bucket list.  It was my husband that suggested I do this,  I  however couldn't seen how this could work. How can I leave my little people and one with special needs for 12 days? They are so young and they need their mama home.  But as Chris persisted and pointed out to me that our older children also need their mom at this age and to experience new things and grow together a nervous excitement began to bubble. I knew he was right, and I know first hand that we serve an unbelievably gracious God, a God who honours a willing heart. My love for babies and small children comes from the overflow of God's love for me and I know that amazing things happen when we make ourselves available for his service. In no way do I feel mentally or emotionally ready to leave, panic and anxiety set in the moment I start to think about it, I am not qualified to teach or really do anything but I am qualified to love. So as the weeks get closer and plane tickets get purchased the excitement grows.. an adventure. An adventure with my children who I have tirelessly raised in the way they should go, praying daily they will not depart from it. An adventure to see where God takes us and moves our hearts. A chance to lavish abandon babies in love and pour into them every ounce I have within me. A chance to take my busy and full, chaotic at times but wonderful life and be stretched in ways that can only produce beauty and growth. Despite my frailties, and little faith knowing this opportunity is in the centre of God's will. No matter how scared I am God's plan will unfold for his glory.

Christmas = Cold/Flu Season Grace in Every Season

                     It's that time of year that sparks panic in every medical mama... Cold and flu season. Every single one of us holds our breath weighing each and every outing or if having company is safe or not. This past week alone our heart community lost 5 children. FIVE! It's hard to even wrap your head around that and most don't want to think about it.  I am learning that being a mom with a child with medical needs is a journey of intense sorrow and pain. We walk a little quieter, we take in every moment and we cry a little more.  We hunt for those that are walking this lonely dusty road and clutch hands and hang on. Most of the time those around us see our life just going on between appointments and Facebook updates but there are nights that we are scared to close our eyes.  You often hear cardiac moms tell stories of their child stumping doctors or things are not going as the text book says, and because of that we questions everything, we count their breaths before we roll over, we wake up 4, 5, 6 ,7 times a night to make sure they are breathing. That relax moment never seems to come. 

I am coming to terms that people don't know how to function in a relationship when things are always changing. People like neat and tidy. My heart breaks every time we walk through our church doors and I  quickly package away the sorrow so that I don't make anyone uncomfortable. The truth is I am scared to be there,  scared to worship, scared what it will look like if the pain came pouring out on a Sunday morning. Could they handle it?  do they love us enough to pick up the broken pieces of a mothers heart? 

I thank God that He is accepts my offering of cupped hands of salty tears, that He reaches his arms out and pulls me in close to whisper strength to keep going on this journey of motherhood. 

Jesus knows the ache of a mother as he watched his own mother at his feet suffering in her grief for her son.
I have never felt so completely empty of myself, I am weak with flaws breathless with trembling and it is in those moments that His strength pushes me forward. Fills my cup a little more to pour into these lives he has given me.  How could one not love a life filled with children? It's impossible not to. He places seasons in our life to slow down and find the beauty. I am thankful for what this little boy has brought to my life..... forgiveness because people really don't know.  To be kind and a little more gentle with people's hearts. I read a quote this week from a mom that lost her baby at eight days old to trisomy 13 God told the mother that her son “has more purpose than just fulfilling your motherhood.”
 It's here... right here in the pain that God works. I get glimpse's of His Glory and I keep going.. keep praying. 

                         

                     

Last April I went to an Above Rubies retreat with a friend. (a retreat for mothers) There was a woman there with her 10th baby, I strongly felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to ask about her baby's health. This was extremely awkward. Her baby was so tiny and over 6 months she insisted she was happy and eating great. I asked her to ask her peditrcian about getting her heart checked. I wrestled with feeling dumb or questioning if I'm just so overly cautious now. Last week I found out from the cordinator of the retreat that the baby was in Bc Children's hospital with heart problems and a tumour on her lung. The very next day I was on my way to BCCH with Henry and was able to reconnect with this mama.   I am so happy I listened to that quiet small voice of the Holy Spirit. This mama said after the retreat she hounded her doctor to do more testing. Later that week they found out the baby will have half her lung removed. 

We decorated for Christmas. The season to be jolly and making the most of it, baking cookies, wrapping presents etc.. This season has so many memories and traditions when you have a house full of little children you can't help but be excited. This year our extended family has decided to not exchange gifts but to spend three days together enjoying family. This has hugely cut down my time away from home and not spending so much time shopping.  For one month I love that adults and children spent extra time together, making special food and decorating the house. I believe its these family traditions that can unite a family and children when grown with have strong joyful memories to draw on.

 Our cosy living room is our family gathering place. Every morning this is where we meet to read our bible and pray.  We recently started in Genesis again and will work our way through.  I don't if there is any better way to start your day than hearing the prayers of your children. From Seamus and Henry's squeezed eyes shut and baby babble to two strong young men with bold powerful prayers.

 It's during this time I am reminded again how blessed I am.

  Last week school was a little bit of write off, we got in 2.5 good days but with me in Vancouver and dad home the kids got a little break.   Jude and Rachael have been enjoying a math game called Gone Fishing. I love when we can incorporate games into our learning and they don't feel it's school work.

We will be using the month of December to do all things Christmas when it comes to our book work.
Rachael is doing a little a few work sheets called "Hot Chocolate Math" and Jude and Rachael are writing with writing prompts "If I were an Elf".  We will slow down on our formal studies and bring in more seasonal and fun things.
As soon as our day wraps up everyone runs outside to sled until I am calling them as it gets dark. As much as I love summer and the long days there is something about the chilly nights and crackling fire that bring a family together.

It's Portfolio Time!

  Originally I thought we were going to dive into French and we may still, but with our little one Henry who is not verbal sign language became a family must. As Henry grows communicating is hugely important for this development so this naturally became and open door for a second language.
Some of the resources we have gathered are geared for the younger ages but this has worked out to be a blessing. The children are eager to practise with the twins, do puzzles, watch the sign language shows all while practising.  They can also be found  trying out there new signs and trying to tell secrets to each other.  The Signing Time DVD's are amazing and I highly recommend them. The songs are catchy and you pick up the signs really fast. A strong point of the Signing Time videos is the fact that each word is demonstrated by several different people. This is important, because everyone signs a little differently. Other videos, which generally use only one demonstrator, have left me wondering how exact I have to be in imitating the sign in order to have it recognized as the intended sign.

For bible right now we are reading through the book of John and really focusing on the way Jesus spoke.  Along side that the children are working through CLE bible work books. We have family prayer once a day. We pray for the continuing needs of friends and family sharing praises we hear about as well. We also use this time to share what is on our hearts of what the Lord is speaking to us about or how we can better handle lives situations.  As well as Sunday worship service together.

Natalie, Rachael, Presley, and Jude are enjoying there dances class once a week, and I must say little boys dancing has got to be thee cutest thing ever. The boys class tends to get a little rowdy causing my boys to get a little flustered with the misbehaviour but they are learning how to use their boundaries and that they don't have to put up with the annoying behaviours of their peers. We did a little bit of role playing at home giving them some helpful suggestion on how to handle these types of situations.  We talked about what it means to be bold in different areas of life. For example: 

Consistently living out the character standards the family has set for themselves, even if others do not understand. Not being afraid to walk away from friends who are engaged in foolish or harmful activities.

The girls however dance beautifully and love there classes every week, spending hours together during the week practicing. 

We used the months of September and October to do the Human Body and for the month of November we will be focusing strongly on Social Studies.  Right now we are building land formations of the continents with salt dough. I plan to show the completed project in an upcoming blog post, but will show a sneak peak tomorrow on Instagram. 

Today was also a very important day for our country as out new prime minister was sworn in. We watched  some of the news coverage as it all unfolded. 

Life In The Blood - Week Six

I apologize with the lack of school posts, In the last two weeks a number of our little people have been back and forth to the hospital including a trip to BC Children's. While there have been lack of posts there is plenty of work being done. 

 My plan was to cover the human body in a month but it just wasn't enough time. I am hoping to wrap this up at the end of October.

Topics we covered this week were, our circulatory system, arterioles, venues, oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.  This came really easy to them  because they have an excellent understanding of the heart. [[A topic that is next week]].

 The blood that flows through this network of veins and arteries is whole blood, which contains three types of blood cells:

1. red blood cells (RBCs)
2. white blood cells (WBCs)
3. platelets

In babies and young kids, blood cells are made within the bone marrow (the soft tissue inside of bones), particularly in the long bones like the humerus (the upper arm bone) and femur (the thigh bone). But, as kids get older and approach adulthood, blood cells are made mostly in the bone marrow of the vertebrae (the bones of the spine), ribs, pelvis, skull, sternum (the breastbone).

The cells travel through the circulatory system suspended in a yellowish fluid called plasma, which is 90% water and contains nutrients, proteins, hormones, and waste products. Whole blood is a mixture of blood cells and plasma.

 In the photo below Natalie and Presley created the make up of blood. 

Red blood cells [[ Mike N Ike's]] (RBCs, also called erythrocytes) are shaped like slightly indented, flattened disks. RBCs contain the iron-rich protein hemoglobin. Blood gets its bright red color when hemoglobin picks up oxygen in the lungs. As the blood travels through the body, the hemoglobin releases oxygen to the tissues.

The body contains more RBCs than any other type of cell, and each has a life span of about 4 months. Each day, the body produces new RBCs to replace those that die or are lost from the body.

White blood cells [[Scottish mint]](WBCs, also called leukocytes) are a key part of the body's system for defending itself against infection (this system is called the immune system). They can move in and out of the bloodstream to reach affected tissues.

Blood contains far fewer WBCs than red blood cells, although the body can increase WBC production to fight infection. There are several types of WBCs, and their life spans vary from a few days to months. New cells are constantly being formed in the bone marrow.

Several different parts of blood are involved in fighting infection.

Corn Syrup was used for the Plasma. A liquid that carries nutrients, hormones, and proteins through the body.  

 This weeks coffee table books.

The interactive notebooking Natalie and Presley are doing is a little over Rachael and Jude's heads so we've been doing lots of hands on learning.

Rachael and Jude putting the pieces in the right places using the anatomy apron. 

     This a fantastic wood puzzle building the layers of the human body.  Jude has been really enjoying this puzzle and seeing how fast he can get it.

 We have been going over the names of different bones, even right down to the youngest two littles. In the photo below Seamus was asked "Where are your Phalanges? Smart little cookie knew right away but also pointed to the toes!